Standards of Conduct Episode Addition
by Cimorene
Summary: This is just an episode addtion to Standards of Conduct. It picks up right where the episode leaves off and is just a short little piece that wraps up a few things that occured during the episode and is just one chapter long. Enjoy!


Standards of Conduct - Episode Addition  
  
By: Anna Claire  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to JAG or anything affiliated with the JAG television show. I am not making any profit off of the publication of this short story. No copyright infringement intended.  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Summary: An episode addition to Standards of Conduct, picks up right where the show left off.  
  
Author's Notes: This is my first JAG fan fiction. Many thanks to TR for staying up and looking at this when I was done. A few little personal things - I'm not too terribly satisfied with this but I never am with my own work, and I appreciate any and all feedback and that includes constructive criticism.  
  
"You're funny."  
  
Harm just grinned at Mac, not quite sure how to respond to her comment. He then shook his head and turned and walked out of her office.  
  
He had enjoyed the last few days with Mac; they had been back at bantering in court and being best friends outside of it. It was also rather refreshing to be the one with the cool head for once when it came to an investigation, he would be rubbing this one in her face for a long time, a very long time. All in all he figured she was pretty satisfied with the outcome. She had caught the guy that had tried to pull a fast one on the Marine Corps and the Navy, but when he tried to pull one on her it became personal. Mac never did personal well, to insult the Marines were one thing, but to insult her personally . . . not many people walked away from that one.  
  
He looked up when he heard a knock on his door jam and smiled when he saw Mac leaning against it with a soft smile on her face. Harm suspected it came mostly from the fact that she still thought that he was being silly, maybe he was.  
  
"Hey, is that dinner offer still open 'cause I'm hungry."  
  
"You?" Harm replied back with a look of mock surprise. "You know, perhaps if you had eaten instead of embarking on a religious crusade you wouldn't be hungry now and begging me for dinner."  
  
"Religious crusade?" Mac said raising her eyebrows look of indignation.  
  
"Mac, the Marine Corps is your religion . . . you pay more homage to that rag-tag group of jarheads than most people do to the Pope."  
  
"You're just jealous, but I'll let you buy me dinner to redeem yourself . . ." Mac trailed off with just a slight edge to her voice.  
  
"I'll pick you up in 45 minutes at your place. How does Urrichio's sound?" He crossed his fingers under the desk where she couldn't see them and then breathed a slight sigh of relief at her nod and watched her turn and walk back to her office.  
  
1847 Hours Mac's Apartment Georgetown  
  
Mac, for one of the first times, was glad that Harm was late. She had spent just a little bit too long in the shower when she had gotten home from JAG, and then way too much time trying to choose the right outfit for this evening. When she had climbed into the shower she had laid out a medium length black skirt with a red top, but when she was toweling off a black dress in her closet she had bought on a whim and hadn't worn yet caught her eye. Against her better judgment Mac pulled the soft velvet dress out of the closet and put it on. It was sleeveless and went to just below her knees, but they would be indoors at the restaurant. Slipping on a pair of panty hose first she slid into the dress and then chose a pair of modest heels so there would be no problems walking.  
  
With no time left she had quickly blow dried her hair, spraying it and leaving it slightly mussed, put on a little bit of makeup, and walked out into the main room just as she heard a knock at the door, exactly four minutes late.  
  
Harm grinned as Mac opened the door and smiled apologetically at him. She looked stunning in the black dress she was wearing, but she didn't have her purse and coat with her like she usually did when he arrived late. It looked like the queen of punctuality was running a bit late herself. He patiently waited as she slipped on a black pea coat that went down to her knees and grabbed her purse.  
  
"Nice sweater," Mac commented as she locked her front door and took Harm's arm that he had offered. He was wearing a dark green sweater with black pants and had a coat on over that.  
  
They made small talk in the car on the way to the restaurant. Harm had opted to take his Lexus, his Corvette hadn't been repaired yet, and he knew it would be easier for Mac to climb in and out of his SUV than the little sports car. He pulled up in front of the popular Italian eatery and handed the keys to the valet before walking around to join Mac as they walked into the restaurant.  
  
It was a bit late for dinner, but being a Friday night the eatery was still crowded. As they entered Harm took his own coat off and helped Mac out of hers before handing them to the coat attendant. He stepped up to the maitre 'd who nodded at his name and motioned for him follow him to a small table for two in a dark corner of the restaurant.  
  
"All right Harm, what did you do?" Mac said after they were seated with drinks.  
  
"Hmmm?" he responded with genuine surprise.  
  
"What did you do? What are you trying to make up for? Why did you take me out to such a nice place?"  
  
Harm grinned at her before shrugging, "I felt like it." Mac looked at him strangely for a moment before shaking her head and deciding she'd be better off enjoying her evening.  
  
Again they were back to small talk, basically catching up on everything and discussing any topic that came up. Harm had given Mac a hard time when her pesto chicken ravioli's arrived and Mac had curled up her nose in disgust at Harm's eggplant parmesiana.  
  
Feeling playful Mac lifted a forkful of her dinner up and waved it around in front of his face.  
  
"Really Harm, you don't know what you are missing, it's absolutely delicious."  
  
Harm laughed at her, before reaching out and grabbing her wrist as he took the fork in his mouth. He watched as her eyes widened a bit, and felt a bit childishly pleased to know that he had gotten to her. He then took his own fork and picked out a few things off his plate before offering his fork to her with a raised eyebrow and a smile. Mac grinned before leaning down to take the food off. She was sure to close her eyes and let her lips linger over his fork before leaning back and looking at him. His mouth was opened slightly and he was staring at her with dark eyes.  
  
They both looked down at their food, feeling slightly embarrassed. What had started out as a playful flirting game had quickly turned serious, too serious. Mac looked up when she felt his fingers brush over her knuckles.  
  
"Hey," he said softly as he took her fingers in his own. "I'm sorry, it's just been a weird couple of days, and seeing you pregnant didn't help any."  
  
Mac's expression turned from soft to slightly amazed and amused. "You what?"  
  
Harm released her fingers as he sat back in his chair, "yeah, I had this awful nightmare that every woman on the entire JAG staff was pregnant, including you, and Renee was in my office telling me I was going to make a great dad." Mac opened her mouth to respond, but Harm held up a finger, "wait, it gets worse. She wasn't talking about her twins, she was talking about every woman in that office."  
  
At that admission Mac started laughing, trying to imagine what it would look like if every female in JAG were pregnant. "Sounds like you'd been busy Harm." She laughed even harder at Harm's snort of indignation, "really busy, I mean you must've been awfully tired, and probably a bit sore. All of those women I didn't know you had it in you to -"  
  
"All right that's it, that's the last time I confess a truly horrifying nightmare to you," Harm interrupted her before it could go any further. He started to chuckle though; it was funny when thinking about it later.  
  
1942 Parking Lot outside of Urrichio's Washington, D.C.  
  
"Hey, do you have a change of clothes Harm?" Mac asked on a sudden impulse. She really didn't want their evening to end; they had been getting along so well. He looked at her sharply before slowly nodding in reply and jerking his head to the back. Mac figured that probably meant he had a bag in the back that probably had a pair of jeans and a clean shirt in it.  
  
"Why do you want to know, or should I even ask?"  
  
"Geeze, I make one crack about your sexual promiscuity and all of a sudden - " Mac broke off at his exasperated sigh, but noticed he was still smiling. "I just figured we could stop and get a movie or two and watch them at my place. That is, if you want to."  
  
"Sure. Blockbuster?" Mac nodded in reply.  
  
Their teasing and flirtatious mood hadn't evaporated when they walked into the store; in fact it was probably becoming a little more daring.  
  
"Careful there squid," Mac said as Harm's hand brushed her arm as he walked beside her, "if you aren't careful I could somehow get pregnant because apparently all it takes now is to merely be in your presence."  
  
"Hasn't seemed to work on you yet."  
  
"That's because I have a force field around me, it doesn't let Harm cooties in."  
  
"Cooties? Force field?" Harm asked, "I think you've been hanging around Bud and little AJ too much." Mac just laughed in reply. "Well if you are immune," he continued, "then I guess it doesn't matter if I am in close proximity with you, now does it?" Harm reached out and draped an arm across Mac's shoulders. She leaned back into him as she chuckled and began browsing the new releases against the wall.  
  
Fifteen minutes later they were still arguing over titles, but Mac's fingers were now intertwined with Harm's on her shoulder. This seemed to be safe for both of them; they could touch as long as they didn't have to look at each other face to face. It took another fifteen minutes before they had decided on two titles, a suspense thriller for him and a comedy for her.  
  
Mac made popcorn for the two of them as Harm changed into the clothes he had brought, a pair of soft worn jeans and a white t-shirt. Mac was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a Duke sweatshirt. They both settled down on the couch to watch the thriller. Before it was halfway over Mac was curled up next to Harm with her head on his shoulder and he was staring in rapt attention at the screen.  
  
It was over too soon for both of them, but after Harm had gotten up to change the movies he sat back down and pulled Mac in close to him. It felt strangely comfortable to her, to be curled up on her couch with her best friend watching a movie that was both sobering and funny at the same time. She snuggled in a little closer when she felt Harm's arm tighten around her. One year and four months didn't seem like such a long time as long as she got moments like this with her best friend. 


End file.
